1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a holder on which a handset can be placed and which can be attached to and detached from a main body of a communication apparatus, and relates to the communication apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, communication apparatus such as facsimile machines have been developed that are configured so as to enable a holder capable of holding a handset thereon to be attached to and detached from their apparatus main body. For example, in a facsimile machine disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 3,039,602, one side wall of a housing is formed with an opening having a prescribed opening area and a holder on which a handset is placed is attached to the opening in a detachable manner. The detachable holder is a resin molded part that is a combination of a top cover and a bottom cover, and a plunger and a lever piece are accommodated in its inside hollow space. The top cover is formed with a tongue piece extending in the horizontal direction from its side portion, and the bottom cover is formed with a skirt piece extending obliquely downward in a curved manner. The plunger is a member that is responsive to an act of picking up or putting down a handset. A head portion of the plunger can project and retract through a hole of a handset placement wall. A compression spring is set elastically between an inner bottom portion of the holder and the plunger, whereby the plunger is normally urged upward. Therefore, when the handset is picked up from the holder, the head portion of the plunger projects through the hole. On the other hand, when the handset is placed on the holder, the head portion of the plunger is pushed down by the handset and hence is retracted under the hole. Since the plunger and the lever piece are integral with each other, the lever piece operates according to an operation of the plunger.
To attach the holder to the housing, the skirt piece is inserted into and engaged with a bottom edge portion of the opening and then the tongue piece is elastically engaged with a top edge portion of the opening. In this manner, the holder can be attached to the opening easily.
At this time, since the lever piece extends from the holder outward to a large extent, the lever piece goes into the inside of the housing through the opening when the holder is attached to the opening. Further, a control board is erected in the vicinity of the opening. Since the head portion of the plunger projects or retracts through the hole in response to an act of picking up the handset from the holder or putting it down on the holder, the free end of the lever piece forms a vertical-arc-shaped locus in front of the control board. A microswitch as a sensor is disposed on the control board at a position in a top region of the arc-shaped locus to be formed by the free end of the lever piece. Therefore, whereas the free end of the lever piece is not in contact with the microswitch when the handset is placed on the holder, the lever piece is rotated upward and its free end comes into contact with the microswitch when the handset is picked up. Therefore, the facsimile machine detects that the handset has been picked up when the free end of the lever piece has contacted the microswitch, and causes switching from a facsimile operation mode to a telephone operation mode.